Tuesday, September 14, 2010

following wound care for two days. outpatient is a little interesting. i like the lymphedema stuff. did some toe wrapping. inpatient is boring. its take off the dressing, rinse with saline, measure & pictures, apply calazime around the wound, apply silvadene to the wound, gauze, curlex, hypafix. done.sometimes aquacell, sometimes mepilex.

wound care gets their screens based on a braden score. which is a test for predicting pressure ulcer risk.

turning in all my assignments late. whats new.

guaiac stool - blood in the stool not visible to the eye. indicative of colorectal cancer.

manual lymphadema drainage is done by opening the channels at the top of the body and working your way down so that the fluid can work its way back into the body. so it goes, neck, shoulders, armpits, groin/abdomen, legs, ankles feet. gentle pressure and tapotement are applied. too much pressure can damage the underlying vessels.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Today I got to watch two surgeries performed by Dr. Jeff Spaw. He performed a THR (anterior approach) and repaired a fractured hip with ORIF.

It was pretty awesome. He was just calling the shots and dropping all this knowledge about the condition and what was going on, what needed to happen, and how to make it happen. needless to say i was very impressed and wishing i had applied myself more in my studies.